An atlas, also known as a road map, or road atlas, is a map (or collection of maps) that typically displays roads, and/or transportation links between locations on the map, as well as additional information of interest. Some of the additional information of interest presented in an atlas often includes geographic features and political boundaries, as well as geopolitical, social, religious and economic statistics. Atlases often have information about the map, and information about points of interest located on the map.
Since before the advent of the automobile as a means of transportation people have been using atlases to help them plan and navigate trips. Before the internet, and more specifically before internet enabled smart phones, people would often use atlases to plan and navigate automobile trips, because atlases often contained a large amount of relevant information for trip planning and navigation purposes. As such, a paper atlas used to be a common item found in an automobile. With the rise of the internet, much of the information previously contained in a paper atlas is now distributed amongst a variety of websites on the internet, and applications installed on a person's smart phone. When planning, or navigating a trip, a person often has to consult multiple sources to get the same amount of information that they would traditionally receive in a paper atlas. Trips are now typically planned using websites and applications on a person's smart phone. Unfortunately, these tools, websites and applications, are not responsive to potential changes to the trip based on relevant information encountered along a proposed route for the trip, or changes that occur as a person progresses through a planned trip. Similarly, these tools lack predictive abilities to anticipate potential changes to a person's trip.